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We've improved Slashdot's video section; now you can view our video interviews, product close-ups and site visits with all the usual Slashdot options to comment, share, etc. No more walled garden! It's a work in progress -- we hope you'll check it out (Learn more about the recent updates).

Alex Rivest has created one of the most visually riveting videos we've seen. Alex says, "In looking at the pictures taken from the International Space Station of the earth at night, I find my attention drawn to that thin line separating earth from space: Our atmosphere." He also says, "A good photograph is one that sparks a question." Since this video runs at 30 (really 29.97) frames per second, and it's about 290 seconds long, that's close to 8700 questions. Luckily, Alex has written a blog post that answers most of them. This doesn't mean you shouldn't enjoy his work for its sheer beauty. Or that you shouldn't wish Alex well in his attempt to get into NASA's 2013 Astronaut Candidate Class. A fine art photographer who also has a PhD in Neuroscience from MIT... what better qualifications could there possibly be for astronauthood?

There's a higher resolution version of this video on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/42909676. The music is different but it shares the same beauty as the Slashdot version.
And please don't forget: Slashdot loves reader video submissions. Email robin @roblimo dot com for more info.

Better qualifications would be Test Pilot like they were originally. Part of our problem with risk aversion in the space program is we are sending guys with PhDs up to take snapshots and run experiments for high school kids. Then we tell tourists its too dangerous for them to go up there. Which is it? Safe for a academics or dangerous?

you know there's a crew there, right? Only 2 of them need test pilot qualifications. The rest are researchers who collect data. High school teachers don't collect data and analyze them. More importantly, high school teachers are less likely to fix the experiment if something goes wrong. It's the same reason why we still have pilots when an airplane's electronics can practically fly and land itself. The pilots are there when something goes wrong.

Today's astronauts need to be (and generally are) scientists rather than (test) pilots. Space missions consist of very little piloting and lots of science, which is exactly how it should be. Test pilots test stuff in order that later on, their experience can be translated into something useful. Like doing scientific experiments.

You develop an instant global consciousness, a people orientation, an intense dissatisfaction with the state of the world, and a compulsion to do something about it. From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, "Look at that, you son of a bitch."